[Upd-discuss] intellectual property disadvantage in economic terms

[Richard M. Stallman]

      What I meant by 'intellectual property' is knowledge
    created by a person, so what I meant was 
    all-rights-reserved-copyright and patents.

That generalization is misleading, because copyrights don't apply to
"knowledge".  A copyright only applies to a specific work.
Any knowledge, as such, that you learn from seeing the work
is not covered by the copyright on that work.

Patents do restrict the use of knowledge.  So if you really mean
knowledge, you should be talking specifically about patents.

But perhaps the term "knowledge" doesn't really express what you mean
to say.  If you mean software, a program is a kind of work, not a kind
of knowledge.  It surely is _based on_ some knowledge, but it is not
the same thing as that knowledge.

There are two legal ways that programs are made proprietary: through
copyrights, and through contracts (though contract law is not
considered "intellectual property" law).  Also, they are made
proprietary by not releasing source code; this does not involve the
use of any particular law.

So it might be clearer to say "proprietary software".  You don't need
to raise the question of precisely what method the developer uses to
make the program proprietary.

      I did not include trademark when I talk
    about intellectual property.

That's an additional reason not to use the name "intellectual
property": if you had in mind a meaning which is different
from the official one.